Did your tech let you see?

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CoolBreeze
CoolBreeze Member Posts: 4,668
edited June 2014 in Not Diagnosed With a Recurrence or Metastases but Concerned
Did your tech let you see?
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  • CoolBreeze
    CoolBreeze Member Posts: 4,668
    edited October 2010

    I just had a bone scan and asked, "Can I see my bones?"  She said no.

    But, I've asked with every test and they always let me.  My mamograms, my sonograms, my MUGAs.  So, it may be just her or is it some rule that everybody is breaking but her?

    I find that stuff really interesting.

    Of course,I've interpreted her answer as my being riddled with cancer. 

    She also came out between films and asked me questions.  "Did you ever have a broken bone?  New picture.  "Did you ever have arthrities? "  New picture.  "Have you been diagnosed with osteoporosis?"  New films.

    Made me feel like she was going back and seeing stuff, but she was probably just saving time.

     I wonder if the techs know we are watching their body language and behavior that closely for clues.  We know THEY know......they know WE know THEY know....

    Describe your bone scan or recent test and what you got from it before you heard the good/bad word.

    :)

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  • lisa-e
    lisa-e Member Posts: 819
    edited October 2010

    I had a bone scan shortly after diagnosis (for a base line).  I was asked similar questions as you were, especially about my ankles.  The report said that there was arthritis in my ankles and metatarsal bones, bilaterally.  Nothing else remarkable.  So I don't know if I would read anything into the tech's question.

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  • sheila888
    sheila888 Member Posts: 25,634
    edited October 2010

    COOLBREEZE...I WAS ALSO ASKED THE SAME QUESTIONS ESPECIALLY IN THE ANKLE AREA with my first bone scan.

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  • CoolBreeze
    CoolBreeze Member Posts: 4,668
    edited October 2010

    To be perfectly honest, I don't think I have bone mets.

    The pain has morphed over the past six weeks, and now it's pretty clearly an organ inside me that hurts in my back.  Now my left side is tender to the touch.  I don't know if it's kidney or ovary - probably ovary, it's low.  It's an organ pain that is radiating into my butt and up my left side.

    Which really, really upsets me because I don't want to go through a whole NEW diagnostic process with a whole new set of doctors.  I almost wish it WAS bone mets. 

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  • carol1949
    carol1949 Member Posts: 562
    edited October 2010

    The guy who did my bone scan actually owned his machine and travels thru the state giving the tests for hospitals who don't perhaps own their own and/or for an additional machine.  He explained to me the sugar/cancer connection and said,  "Oh, yea, this stuff is real safe".... rather sarcastically as it has danger signs all over it!  He told me he was tired of doing it and was about ready to retire, but in a very nice way.  After the test was complete... he let me look at it and he said very confidentally, "don't worry... and have a nice weekend."  That was on a Friday morning and I had the results Monday at noon after having a Muga test that morning!  My onc actually called me on the phone as I was sitting in her waiting room! 

    I would think that some techs are directed by their superiors to not let people see, yet, I feel it is my body and I have the right to see it.  A bit of a rebel in me.

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  • chicago-37
    chicago-37 Member Posts: 101
    edited October 2010

    The hospital I go to has a monitor so you can see the bone scan as it is happening.

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  • CoolBreeze
    CoolBreeze Member Posts: 4,668
    edited October 2010

    My experience has always been that they let you see the films.  They won't discuss it with you but you can see it. Every single test I've had that they were available they let me.  Well, not the MRI but that was different and I didn't ask on that one.

    It was odd to be told, "uh...um....no." 

    I am not trained to read them and I'm sure I wouldn't have recognized anything - just wanted to see my bones!  

    I wasn't going to argue with her though.  It's gotta be hard being a tech and knowing everybody wants answers and you aren't allowed to give them.  (My experience has always been that when it's negative, they will wink and let you know in a subtle way.  But, she could be a rule follower.)

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  • AussieSheila
    AussieSheila Member Posts: 647
    edited October 2010

    After my first bone scan, pre mets dx, the female tech walked me to the door into the reception area, as the place is like a rabbit warren.  As I went to grab the door handle out of there, I turned to thank her for a painless procedure and was stopped in my tracks by the look on her face.  It's hard to describe, but it was a mixture of pity, horror and something else I don't have words for.

    I knew in that moment that I was in big trouble.  Even though I had to wait two weeks for the Orthopedic specialist to confirm the dx, I was in no doubt at all at what was coming.  He wouldn't even say the C word, just kept repeating that all the black spots on my skeleton were NOT the arthritis my GP sent me to him for.  I guess he confirmed it when he started copying all my records to be sent to an Oncologist!

    Most of the people I've told about this event seem to think I imagined it.

    I guess you had to be there!

    Sheila.

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  • lookingforward4more
    lookingforward4more Member Posts: 127
    edited October 2010

    Had a bone scan last week and the tech let me see it. She explained it all to me and spent a nice amount of time with me. SHe did tell me that had she been fully booked she would not have been able to sit with me and explain the process, so I guess I was lucky that day.

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  • CoolBreeze
    CoolBreeze Member Posts: 4,668
    edited October 2010

    So, for those who were able tosee - were you negative for mets?

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  • jacee
    jacee Member Posts: 1,384
    edited October 2010

    Never had a bone scan, but I've always asked for everything on a disc before testing and they've always given it to me before leaving. Is a bone scan put on disc as well?

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